It's been almost five years since we first reported on the notorious ea_spouse incident, in which a partner of an Electronic Arts employee wrote a exposing entreaty describing the working conditions his/her partner endured under the employ of the Canadian publisher. it caused a right royal stink, as disgruntled employees from other studios around the world leapt out of the woodwork to complain about their 80+ hour work weeks.

Since then, the issue has quietly been hidden under the carpet, and other issues - like Hot Coffee - have come along to steal the limelight. Yet some companies - like Relentless in Brighton - continue to be fight the fight in support of their employees, enforcing 9-5 workdays. Additionally, the International Game Developers Association has set up a Quality of Life working group. But in reality, things seem to have gone quietly back to the way things were.

Greg Costikyan, the master of games industry rant, has produced a doozy against Epic Games' Mike Capps, who,

claimed that working 60+ hours was expected at Epic, that they purposefully hired people they anticipated would work those kinds of hours, that this had nothing to do with exploitation of talent by management but was instead a part of "corporate culture," and implied that the idea that people would work a mere 40 hours was kind of absurd.